Children’s euthanasia bill signed by Belgium king

Belgium’s king has signed into law a controversial bill that will allow for chronically ill children to be euthanized, local media reports. The bill, while widely opposed by religious groups, has broadly support among the public.

Belgian newspapers reported that King Philippe signed the bill
into law Sunday, putting to rest weeks of speculation on whether
he would approve the law amid strong opposition from Catholic
organizations throughout Europe.

The legislation, which grants children the right to request
euthanasia if they are “in great pain” and there is no available
treatment, makes Belgium the first country in the world where the
age of the child is not taken into consideration. Similar
legislation exists in the Netherlands, though only for children
over the age of 12. In both countries, children are required to
receive the consent of parents, doctors and psychiatrists.

The Belgian Catholic Church opposes the law, earlier describing
it as a “step too far.” European Catholics also petitioned the
king to veto the bill.

In late February, a Spanish conservative lobby delivered more
than 200,000 signatures to King Philippe in Brussels, demanding
that he not sign the bill. One of the petition’s organizers,
Alvaro Zulueta, says more than 5,000 of the signatures came from
concerned Belgians, although Italians made up the largest number
of respondents, AFP reported.

Although King Philippe’s signature was technically necessary for
the bill to pass, it would have been highly unusual for the
constitutional monarch not to approve the legislation.

The bill passed the Belgium House of Representatives 86-44 with
12 abstentions February 13, following approval by the Senate last
December. Some lawmakers strongly contested the bill, which was
proposed by the ruling Socialist Party. The bill was opposed by
the Christian Democratic and Flemish parties, which earlier
threatened to take the proposal before the European Court of
Human Rights.

Belgium became the second country in the world after its
neighbor, The Netherlands, to legalize euthanasia following the
2002 Belgium Act on Euthanasia.

Since that time, the number of reported cases of euthanasia in
Belgium has reached 1,400 per year.

Critics say it has fundamentally changed Belgium society. In one
case in December 2012, Doctors announced that they had euthanized
45-year-old deaf identical twins who were going blind and
believed they had nothing left to live for.

Critics said the brothers were not terminally ill nor suffering
physical pain, and it took them two years before they found
doctors who would perform the procedure. According to Bioedge, a
doctor at their local hospital said, “I do not think this was
what the legislation meant by 'unbearable suffering.’"

In another case, a 44-year-old woman with chronic anorexia
nervosa was euthanized. A 64-year-old woman suffering from
chronic depression was also euthanized without informing her
relatives. The doctors involved claimed the cases were
exceptional, saying all legal obligations were met.

Despite more extreme cases which have gathered worldwide media
attention, a recent public survey earlier found that 75 percent
of Belgians supported the child euthanasia measure.